RCMP trial

An expert who analyzed the Mounties’ response to the shooting rampage in 2014 told the RCMP Labour Code trial some of the officers’ actions caused him concern.

Sergeant Sam Tease says the first officer on the scene correctly called for backup instead of going into the woods after Justin Bourque.  There was also good initial communication with the next wave of officers who took cover when they arrived as they were trained to do.  But then, Tease says, things broke down and they didn’t put on their body armour, which was available in their cruisers.

Also testifying yesterday was another expert, Staff Sergeant David Lowry, who said the information emergency response teams had initially  was that the active shooter was inside somewhere. Lowry says response team members would have picked different firearms if they had had the correct information.

D-E-C asks for bigger and more schools

The District Education Council will be asking the Education Department to add an addition to the Riverview East School.  They also want a mid-life upgrade at Riverview High School and new schools to replace Bessborough and Salisbury Elementaries.

Riverview East, which is only two and a half years old, is at 89% capacity already this year and they will probably have to add portable classrooms next year to handle the increase student enrollments in that area. DEC member Roberta Brewer says they knew right from the beginning that school wasn’t built big enough.